Pruning and Training the Vine. 



97 



The annual pruning thereafter is to cut away the entire arm, except the 

 branch nearest the main cane. This is bent around and tied to the wire, 

 shortened in to five or six buds, and is the new arm replacing the old one. 



The simplicity of this system, and the little labor attending it, are its 

 strong recommendations, and the natural droop of the canes also tensd to 

 check its growth ; yet it has some objectionable features. The young shoots 

 of strong growing varieties, when growing at a 2:40 rate, have a feeble 

 hold on the old wood, and are liable to break off with a stiff wind or a heavy 

 shower. In cultivating, if the horse switches one with his tail, or gives it a 

 slight bend in the wrong direction, off it goes, and ofttimes they are the very 

 ones you would like to have saved. To remedy this, I have had good results 

 by running a wire through the posts six inches above the one to which the 

 arms are fastened, or one on either side the same distance above. The young 

 shoots are tied to these, affording the necessary support. On one side of 

 my vineyard there is quite a descent, so that I find it desirable to cultivate 

 both ways to prevent washing. I therefore dispense with my lower wire and 

 run one over the top wire at right angles to it, carrj' my vines up to the wires 

 and put the four arms at the top, thus getting the same fruiting area as in 

 the other case. 



Fig. 10. 



Fig. 10 is a reproduction, from a photograph, of a vine in my vineyard, 

 as it appeared last fall after the leaves had fallen and before pruning. 



